M E T A L M A N 9

M E T A L M A N 9

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April 2, 2024 Finds Restoration and Preserving History

April 2, 2024 Finds Restoration and Preserving History

April 2, 2024 Finds Restoration and Preserving History. History and remembrance go hand in hand. A lot of the pleasure derived from Metal Detecting is finding pieces of history that would otherwise be lost forever. Some of the items found may deserve further attention and this is where preservation and restoration becomes important. Ideally one does restoration in a way that does no damage. I am no expert in the restoration of old iron or of antiques but generally I follow my instincts and try to apply some common sense. The following pictures and stories revolve around a few chosen finds. These are by far some of my favorites. The first is a 16 lb cast iron “Plaque” found by my detecting friend Randy, at the confluence of the Marais and Red River near Letellier, Manitoba. See: May 12, 2023 – A Site with a lot of History … The plaque was originally attached to a Steam Tractor manufactured at Woodbridge Works in what was then Woodbridge, Ontario. Circa: 1860 -1890. Tractor # 257. The inscription was cast in when the plaque was made. The actual tractor Number 257 was “Stamped” into the iron. Woodbridge today is a Suburban Community in Vaughan, Ontario. I chose to have the piece sandblasted along with a leg of what was probably a wood burning stove. There is a company in Transcona that does timely work at a reasonable rate. They cleaned the pieces off beautifully. Clean cast iron has a silvery metallic color. Interesting! Not at all what I’d expected. I took the pieces home and spray painted them with a black rust inhibiting paint. The plaque; I then hand painted the letters in Red and the numbers in Gold. It’s very heavy but looks great. I reached out to two historical societies to try to obtain more information about the steam tractor that this plaque might have been attached too. I would like to know the production date of this tractor, based on the tractor number and what the actual colors would have been. My questions are in queue with one organisation and I have not heard back from the other. So it goes. The second piece looks like a stylized letter “Y”. I found it on a portion of the Pembina Trail about a half mile from the Red River. See: May 28, 2023 - Following the Pembina Trail . I’ve mentioned before that some of the great joys derived from Metal Detecting is the initial discovery, then sometimes the puzzling over what this item is and then the secondary realization of what you’ve actually found. So Cool! This “Y” shaped piece of hand forged iron did exactly that. At first I thought that might have been a part of a horse drawn cart or buggy or something to do with holding a horse’s reign’s… we are after all on the Pembina Trail, the main trail between the Red River Colony (Winnipeg) and the US. It took a while and some help from other detectorists to finally realize that this artifact is a boat oar lock. I could just feel my thought process snap from a dust prairie trail to the main highway of the day: the Red River. Oh yeah… remember the river, just a half mile away? Why the oar lock is this far from the river, we may never know but its place in history and purpose is undeniable. Restoration was easy. I have a brass wheel brush that I run on a wheel grinder. It cleans metal really well. It’s not as deep a clean as sand blasting but once the iron piece is cleaned, I oil it with a good quality olive oil. It absorbs into the iron and seals it from the air and thus doesn’t rust up again and gives it the dark brownish black color. Some of the smaller pieces like square nails, nuts, bolts and barbed wire bits, I clean off using a Rock Tumbler. Three days of continuous tumbling in crushed walnut husks followed by a week of tumbling in No. 2 grit. Then I apply the olive oil. The iron comes out nice and clean and dark in color. The last two artifacts were not found with a metal detector but it is while detecting that I discovered these two ground finds. It was pure luck. Being at that right place at the right time. These are the arrow heads. See: June 5, 2023 - More of “Following the Pembina Trail” . And: October 19, 2023 - Permission granted and the hunt continues . These are old. Very old by comparison to what the early pioneers might have left behind for us to find. I have great reverence for these artifacts. Two different individuals, people living hundreds of years apart and unknown to each other, human beings, eons ago hand made these arrow heads from stone and used them to sustain themselves and tribes. If you don’t hunt, you don’t eat… It reflects the story of us all. Being human. A shadow box with a soft cushiony material for backing works well in giving these artifacts a sense of depth and relief. References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodbridge,_Ontario http://vintagemachinery.org/MfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=4760&tab=0 h t t p s : / / w w w . f a r m c o l l e c t o r . c o m / s t e a m - t r a c t i o n / a m e r i c a n - a b e l l - e n g i n e - and-thresher-co-ltd/ h t t p s : / / w w w . e q u i p m e n t w o r l d . c o m / c o l l e c t o r s - c o r n e r / a r t i c l e / 1 5 3 0 6 3 7 9 / v i d e o - r e s t o r e d - 1 9 1 8 - r u s s e l l - s t e a m - t r a c t o r - demonstrates-its-power Roger

April 14, 2024 Metal Detectorists Get Together

April 14, 2024 Metal Detectorists Get Together

April 14, 2024 Metal Detectorists Get Together. I would define this second Metal Detectorists Get Together as: a resounding success, well attended, the rekindling of old friendships from the former Bronx Park club and the creation of brand new friendships with an inflow of new to the hobby detectorists. In attendance were seasoned veterans to the hobby and three young persons who are demonstrating great skill at their new found hobby. Wow, imagine that… a hobby that actually takes kids outside, that makes them walk around for miles and that involves them digging in soil and sand and takes them away to actual places in history. Yes, this get together was a success. 20 dedicated hobbyists eager to share their stories and adventures. This is a hobby that is alive and well. We are at the cusp of forming a club. Here are pictures of some of the highlights. I wish to thank Robin Paul Pare of OK John Metal Detectors who put in the time and work to provide a presentation on both what he can offer in the way of metal detecting equipment and supplies to detectorist and to the incredible work that he and his family are putting into providing the metal detecting community at large with outings, caches and tokens that provides the finder with valuable prizes and his work in getting kids involved in the hobby. Present at this get together were a number of former members from the old Bronx Park Treasure Hunters club. The last time the “Find of the Year” trophy was handed out was 22 years ago (2002)… yet there it was… the trophy. It’s wonderful to see that it’s been kept safe and intact all of these years and so nice to see it surface again. It actually changed hands and went home with a new custodian today. Metal detecting is very much about discovering history, our history, be it about our country or our city or home town or about a piece of our own family’s heritage found in a field or a yard somewhere. The preservation of this trophy is no different. For those of us who see it for the first time and see the names inscribed on it, it is a moment of discovery. Thanks to the members who brought artifacts and relics to show and display on the “Finds Table. The range and variety of items is truly incredible. One member showed us a piece of what looks like aluminum, about an inch or so long. It appeared melted and had strange looking encrustations fused into it. When it was said that it was found on a beach, I immediately thought that it might have been the remnants of a melted aluminum can in a beach fire. The owner then mentioned that it was found while metal detecting on a beach, in Florida; on the Atlantic side. Then the light bulb went on… this item may very well be a piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia that disintegrated over the Atlantic on February 1, 2023. Pieces of it are still being found on Florida beaches today. The artifacts were here to be seen and handled. Their stories are shared. There were coins, bullets, a Winnipeg Blue Bomber team ring, military uniform badges and buttons, an axe head and of course a variety of metal detectors. Metal detecting brings people together. It’s the sharing of stories and of adventures and of course of learning. It’s about the teaching of new skills or of old tricks that work while out in the field. I think we are well on our way to creating a new, active and vibrant club. There is so much more to learn and share. Care to join us? You’re always welcome. The adventure never ends, nor the discoveries. Roger See: December 3, 2023 - Metal Detectorists Get Together.

April 20, 2024 This Year’s First Outing

April 20, 2024 This Year’s First Outing

April 20, 2024 This Year’s First Outing. This was my first Metal detecting outing for 2024. I’d call it a practice run. It was an opportunity to reacquaint myself with my tools and equipment and to re-learn and sharpen my skills. It looks like I need to... We’d had a short period of warming weather the week before. Most of the snow and ice was gone. Then a few days ago, snow flurries in the morning… It looked like “Christmas” in April. Today, the sun is out. It’s a bit cool in the wind but warm when facing the sun. A great day for metal detecting. So I walked to my local site; 3 blocks. Within a minute or so, I’d located my first coin of the year. Notice the horrific scratch across the face of it…. truly a rookie mistake. Soon after, the battery in my pin pointer faded and then died. No spare battery. Walk back home… Sounds familiar? So I packed all of my stuff in the van and drove over. I will need new digging gloves too. And this morning, the day after… Yikes. Sore muscles, especially my shoulder from digging in turf. Like I said, it was a practice run, close to the house, and good preparation for the coming metal detecting year that lies ahead. And I have a full slate of places that I want to get too. All and all, I did Ok ! My, how time flies and just seems to stand still when you’re out metal detecting. Two hours just shot by. The best find of the day by any standard is the little square and engraved lead weight. It says “ ¼ oz 7 gm ”. So strange! I weighed it at home on a very accurate digital scale and it came in almost exactly as marked… 7.02 gm. It might have been part of a child’s toy weight kit or maybe it came from the school’s science lab but it looks old and I’d be surprised if actual lead would have been used in a school setting even in 1972 when this school was opened. I always marvel at how Nickels often look like when they come out of the ground... Reddish Brown. And true to form as in so many places in Winnipeg, the first 2 to 4 inches of soil is planted sod, below that comes a layer in varying depth of fill. Soil, not from the site, that was often trucked in and used to level a field. All of the coins found came from that first layer of topsoil and sod. Other bigger or older items can be found in the layer of fill, like the large nut. I need to remind myself not to dig deep or I risk creating a gaping hole and only find junky items like the wire and the steel clip. Can Slaw is ever present in kept yards and parks. It rings nicely on my detector and the signal is easily confused with that of better finds like nickels or loonies. One U.S. penny was found... 1976 D. Most coins found here are typical to this school yard: 1970's - 1900's. Last is the interesting and unusual circles on the 1981 dime. One can only guess what process scratched it like that. Roger Reference: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/ryersonschool.shtml